Three days after suffering its first Centennial Conference loss of the season, the Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team returned home to defeat Washington, 12-9.

The Mules (7-3, 2-1) trailed 6-5 late in the first half before holding the Shoremen (8-3, 2-1) scoreless for a stretch of more than 23 minutes, netting six straight goals of their own to open up a big lead.

Muhlenberg's defense held Washington, which came in averaging 14.5 goals per game, to only 27 shots. The Mules forced 22 turnovers and had a huge 35-18 advantage in ground balls.

Junior long pole Matthew Regan picked up a career-high 6 ground balls, while defensive middies Connor Riebling and Cooper Richards combined for 7 ground balls and 3 caused turnovers.

But the biggest story on defense was junior Stephen Krug (pictured above), who played the final three quarters in goal and made a career-high 7 saves to pick up his first career win.

Senior James Dalimonte notched his third consecutive hat trick, scoring a goal in each of the first three quarters. Senior Dominick Visintin finished with 5 points, one short of the career high he set against Washington two years ago, on 2 goals and 3 assists. Junior Wyatt Malia and sophomore Andrew Sellitto netted a pair of goals apiece.

The Mules jumped out to a 3-0 lead a little more than five minutes into the game, but Washington rebounded to take its first lead at 5-4 midway through the second quarter. Dalimonte's goal with 1:53 left in the half tied the score at 6-6, and Visintin's with 21 ticks on the clock gave Muhlenberg the lead for good.

Four different players - Dalimonte, Sellitto, graduate student Ethan Grossman and senior Jason Metz - scored in the third to extend the advantage to 11-6.

Grossman's two points gave him 275 for his career, moving him into a tie with Chris Anderson of Haverford (1998-2001) for third place on the CC all-time list.